Entertainment

RIAA Exec Talks Piracy Filters For End User Hardware And Software

Cary Sherman is in the news today. Who is he? An executive at the RIAA. His job is to come up with new ideas on how to beat Web-based hooliganism any way that would prove even remotely feasible.

He’s making headlines now for propositioning anti-virus and anti-spyware specialists - as well as router makers and the like - to market (either overtly or in relatively subliminal fashion) piracy filters that would work to keep free music clear of millions upon millions of hard disks around the globe. While attending the State of the Net conference in Washington, D.C. last week, he spoke rather glowingly about Internet filtration in the face of abundance file sharing out in the cloud, according to a report by Nate Anderson published in Ars Technica today.

He determined that measures pushed to require ISPs to police their networks would ideally be a great way to turn the fortunes of the big movie studios and and record companies around for the better.

Yet at the same time he recognized that conflicts do arise out in the cloud when the policing of data flow is at issue. He understands that, due to encryption technologies, some things get blocked, while other transfers continue apace - causing a good deal of consternation for many parties.

So he’s now thinking that a more effective way of dealing with online piracy would be to place automated software monitors a bit closer to the end user. Actually, a lot more closer. Like, inside anti-virus/anti-spyware software.

Think Norton and Trend Micro would be up for that kind of experiment? Probably not.

No worries, then. If that pitch ends up falling flat - as many might expect it to - the RIAA could work with other partners. Like broadband modem manufacturers and associated firmware designers. You listening, D-Link? Linksys? Netgear? Mr Sherman’s looking at you to keep consumer activities “above the fold” and in line with the RIAA’s ultimate plan.

The inherent fault with all such filtration methods - whether they be placed way out in the cloud or nestled alongside the many gigs of data that populate the hard disks of hundreds of millions of PCs - is that there are far too many variables to effectively determine with a near absolute level of certainty that what should be blocked is blocked, and, reversely, what should not be blocked isn’t.

Also, something that may be considered piracy to a content owner such as Universal or Sony BMG (i.e., sharing an album purchase with a friend or family member based in a remote location), may not be seen the same way by any one or more consumer(s). Though the line has been clearly drawn on that matter by the RIAA, the current validity of present copyright rules must be brought to question. Fair use (for modern day scenarios) must be accounted for.

Going back to the idea of security software installed by end users, one could certainly argue that malware protectants aren’t guaranteed to perform ably 100% of the time. One could argue that there are several things that could compromise a system, regardless of the complexity of a piece of software. That updates may not download in time to prevent corruption. That actions taken by the end user may confuse the primitive AI of a filter. And because those things must be accounted for, one should draw an analogy to anti-piracy system of “good-enough” making.

But that would require that software designers disregard the fact that media piracy is no way equatable to viruses and other digital ills.

The data being pirated is not the disease, after all. Pirates are. And even then the picture is very murky one. There is no morally definitive answer to the controversy that is file sharing. There are the subjects of consumer and corporate justice to deliberate over. There are the inconveniences associated with DRM locks to address via legal channels. And, of course, there is the ongoing and overarching debate about how members of the RIAA determine the price-to-product ratio.

In all, the status quo behooves us - Big Media, ISPs, software manufacturers, and consumers alike - to negotiate our way through this convoluted maze that is the 21st-century digital space before we erect even more barriers between one another and expand on any list of dos and donts. We need to settle at least some of the grievances we have on our plate prior to the deployment of yet another filter in yet another application. Otherwise we’ll only exacerbate the flamewar currently being contested around the world. And that would just give us an even bigger mess to clean.

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